The Electric Ear, Part Two

Abstract

The transition from the ‘silent’ film era to that of the sound film is an area well researched and widely discussed. Although it is commonly acknowledged that all manner of musical and spoken performances accompanied ‘silent’ films, what is perhaps less well-known are early attempts, with varying degrees of success, at marrying film with recorded synchronised sound. The argument here is that the impediment to the introduction of synchronised sound and film was not just the pitfalls of successful synchronisation but more crucially the lack of adequate amplification. The story of the transition from silent to sound film is also one of the transition from an acoustic to an electric environment. The question is asked ‘what does this mean?’, both for the medium of film and the auditorium, and by implication for the audience and their relation to the audible world. This article discusses the emergence of sound film, its technology and its impact on the audiences of the time.